Guitar Hero

If you're a fan of the Guitar Hero series, there is one song that will no doubt make your finger hurt, just from thinking about it. Through the Fire and Flames by DragonForce is easily the most difficult song to master in the entire series. And soon you'll have a chance to prove yourself once again in Guitar Hero 5.

Just like with a real guitar, when you've played Guitar Hero long enough, you start to master the songs. But unlike a real guitar, you're not going to bust out your skills on stage for anyone, because it's still just a game. When you've got friends over, it's always fun to challenge them to a head-to-head match. But what about when you want to have that same kind of fun, but there's no one else around? Well, there's a new mode for that.

Guitar Hero Live has launched for the new Apple TV today, allowing users play the latest entry in the music game series on their television screen without the need of a dedicated game console. However, in an unexpected move, users must have the guitar controller in order to play. This is opposed to the iPhone/iPad version of the game, which lets users play a free two-song trial without requiring any kind of peripheral.

Like it or not, the new Apple TV marks a new phase of gaming in the company's digital life. Naturally, there are already games announcing their support for the new living room device, some of which, like Crossy Road, might already be familiar to mobile gamers. But now even more "serious" titles are coming our way. Activision and Disney Interactive have revealed that games like Guitar Hero Live, Skylanders SuperChargers, and Disney Infinity 3.0 will be playable on the new Apple TV, but there is a very small catch.

The Guitar Hero franchise seems to have more life than actual rock stars. A full decade in, a typical band would have retired or split up for solo projects. Not Guitar Hero, though. Ten years old and a full five years or so since its last release, Guitar Hero Live is coming your way. Not a reboot, Guitar Hero Live is more than a game — it’s a platform. Along with the new-look game, you’ll also get access to GHTV, Guitar Hero’s play-along collection of videos.

Activision just released this teaser trailer for one of their soon-to-be-released games. The teaser is purposefully mysterious as it doesn't specify a game title, but after watching it we're leaning towards a new game from the Guitar Herofranchise. It's been almost five years since the last Guitar Hero game came out. The last title released was Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, and it sold only a disappointing 86,000 units in its first week. Is five years too long of a lapse for the game to win back its former cult status?

It's time to brush up on your guitar skills and dust off that old controller. Or maybe not, since you might have to buy a new one just for this rumored comeback. Kotaku UK reports that Guitar Hero might be due a sequel and that it will be announced at E3 in June and that it will launch before 2015 ends. If true, then this year could very well be known as the revival of the music jamming games, with Rock Band also rumored to be back in town.

Remember back when Harmonix revealed that they'd be hiring for a first-person shooter back in August of 2012? It's time! Harmonix' developers have brought the world the likes of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, and this week they’ve revealed a title that should once again pave new ground in the gaming industry.

Well here's something we definitely weren't expecting to see today: Harmonix, the genius studio behind Rock Band and Guitar Hero, is apparently developing a real-time combat game for next generation consoles. A job ad on Gamasutra reveals as much, with Harmonix looking for a "Combat Designer to create real-time, single-player combat experiences for a brand new IP on next generation hardware." In other words, it would appear that Harmonix is ready to branch out from the rhythm genre.

Ion Audio, the makers of the iCade iPad arcade machine and Piano Apprentice devices you've probably seen at Best Buy are back with their latest and greatest. They've developed a full-sized guitar nicely rounded out with a built-in iPad (sold separately of course) that will teach you to strum those chords like Jimmy Hendrix and Van Halen.

The music game genre helped many musicians get back into the mainstream and titles like Guitar Hero and Rock Band were some of the strongest selling franchises for game publishers in years past. Apparently, the strong sales of music games have ended for Activision.

If you'll recall, it was the end of September when we decided that we'd go ahead and do one of our giveaways. This time around, it was a You Rock Guitar, which is still billed as one of "the most versatile rock guitars on the planet." Pretty bold words, but considering the features that come packed in this guitar, they could be right. And, while we know the anticipation has been intense, we can finally say that we've chosen our winner: Ryan Neary.